Monday, June 14, 2010

Meet Author Angelique Armae

Angelique Armae is a native New Yorker who's as zany as the city she grew up in. As a child her favorite toy was Emerald The Witch, a small doll with green eyes, green hair and purple skin.

Miss Armae's books and novellas have garnered numerous awards and nominations, including the Sapphire Award, P.E.A.R.L. Award and Word Weaving Award. Her books have also been featured on Midwest Book Review's Book Watch TV. Angelique's first novel, COME THE NIGHT, made Fictionwise's Best of the Best list, rounding out the top five best selling dark fantasy books of the year.

Aside from writing, Angelique also dabbles in digital art. She is the recipient and two time nominee of the Dream Realm Award for best cover art.

When not working, Ms. Armae enjoys traveling, learning about the ancient Celts, exploring history and learning new languages. Angelique studied history and French literature at Skidmore College.

"Extremely talented."

-- Sherrilyn Kenyon, #1 New York Times

Bestselling author

A fallen angel…

A human scholar…

A race against time…

When two souls born on opposite sides of the battle between Heaven and Hell, team up to find a sacred antidote to a supernatural disease, the balance between good and evil are forever altered.

Isabel Godfroie Heart is a Paradisian Scholar-an immortal human trained in the ways of Heaven and Hell-who's suffering from memory loss. During her last battle, a dark force erased specific portions of her past life memories. Now she remembers little of times past, save for the fact she's a demon slayer mentored by the archangel Gabriel. When ordered to a new post to help translate a volume of ancient text from a forbidden verse, Isabel is forced to work with the dark prince Nicolai Valentine, a soul who may or may not be responsible for her memory loss. If only she didn't find the tempting creature so hard to resist…

Born to a fallen angel and a mortal mother, Nicolai Valentine is a prince of the Grigorcov, the children of the fallen sons of God. Searching for the lost chalice that will save his kin from eternal damnation, Nicky unknowingly unleashes the Hadean Virus, a dark entity targeting members of the Grigorcov. Now the entity has been unleashed on man's world and Nicky's in a race against time to find the antidote that will stop this deadly parasite. But in order to keep the Hadean virus from attacking again, Nicolai must enlist the help of Isabel Godfroie Heart, the Paradisian Scholar he was unable to save from the wrath of Hell centuries ago…

INTERVIEW:

Angelique, welcome to Romance Author Buzz.

Angelique: I’m glad to be here!

Tell us about your Call story.

Angelique: I was away in Vermont with a few of my writing friends attending a book signing by author Carla Neggers, when Holly Root of the Waxman Literary Agency called me. At first I didn’t want to call the agent back, unsure of what she had to say. But Carla assured me agents don’t call unless it’s good news. And it was. Holly called to ask to represent me. That is the Call that will stand out in my mind forever.

What is your writing style like?

Angelique: I like writing dark paranormals with tortured heroes and strong heroines. I also like writing stories with a twist.

Do you plot your stories or let your characters lead you?

Angelique: I have to have a basic plot down before I start to write the bulk of my book. I need to know who my hero and heroine are and what the biggest obstacle is for them. But I never stick 100% to my original plot as changes usually pop up as I write.

Describe a day in the life of Angelique Armae.

Angelique: Ha! Do you really want to know? I definitely live a much quieter life than the heroines in my books! No vampires, no demons…well, I do have a cat who’s sometimes a little devil and who commands a lot of my attention, but I guess that doesn’t exactly qualify for anything paranormal. I don’t have a set writing time, but I do work on my books or promo daily.

What are you currently working on?

Angelique: A Steampunk novella, plus the sequel to my new fallen angel novel Shadows of the Soul, titled Crypt Candy.

What suggestions would you have for beginning writers as far as "breaking into the business”?

Angelique: Learn as much as you can about the business. You never know everything as there’s always something to learn. When I first started writing seriously, I looked for a professional organization to point me in the right direction. Much to my surprise, at the time, few groups allowed non-published writers unless you were a student. The only one I found was Romance Writers of America. I wasn’t even writing romances at the time, but joined anyway. It was one of the best things I could have done. What I learned from my local chapter as well as from special interest chapters continues to benefit me today. And I’m glad to be a part of those groups.

Who is your favorite author?

Angelique: Too many to mention here.

What are you reading?

Angelique: The Vampire and The Virgin by Kerrelyn Sparks. I love all of Kerrelyn’s books.

What is the best part for you of being an author?

Angelique: Getting to meet my fans and my favorite authors.

When using a locale in your books which you’ve never visited, how much research to you do?

Angelique: I do a lot of online research but I know you can’t count 100% on the internet. I try to go for the general feel of an area as opposed to specifics.

Tell us something about yourself that we might not know

Angelique: I once lived in a haunted house.

Angelique, thanks so much for spending time at Romance Author Buzz and giving us a chance to get to know you!

Angelique: Thank you for having me. Sharing my world with fans is very important to me because without them I wouldn’t be writing.

When I wanted a redesign of my blogs I found Glass Slipper Design and Jo (Angelique Armae). At the time I didn't realize she was an author. Jo was so professional and a joy to work with so in honor of Jo aka Angelique I'm offering a $15.00 Starbucks card.

All you have to do is follow her on Facebook and comment on her FB page. Come back here and post your email address and comments.